COSTFORD

Monday, 1 September 2014

We
attended a lecture on low-cost construction technology outlining
affordable materials and technology drawn from Laurie Baker's
architectural philosophy. There are an impressive multitude of ways to
save costs on construction projects if all elements of the building are
considered. This includes not only the types of architectural features
but also the the building process, type of materials (bricks, mortar,
cement, mud, etc.) and the lifespan of materials. The Laurie Baker
philosophy of architecture seems to be "use what you have."

We
were lectured at the Laurie Baker Centre for Habitat Studies, a campus
designed by Baker and the COSTFORD team. The main building was
originally built for an Indian-Canadian homeowner:

The campus occupies the site of a former quarry, which has since been largely restored into a tropical forest habitat:

Having
seen several restored quarries in North America of similar age, the
rate of regeneration is impressive. The difference in the growing
seasons is remarkable:

Nearby is a rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) plantation where latex is collected for refinement into rubber:

Our
final stop of the day was the Self-employed Women's Association
paper-making facility. Here, paper items are handcrafted from recycled
cotton fibre and newspapers, mixed with dye and pressed to produce
colorful paper used to make notebooks, cards and boxes. SEWA's factory
is also located in a building constructed by Laurie Baker and the
COSTFORD team.

Visit to Centre for Development Studies campus in Trivandrum for lectures and tour

The
CDS campus was designed by British architect Laurie Baker and
constructed between 1973 and 2008. Baker pioneered an innovative system
of architecture using local knowledge and materials and his own logic to
construct low-cost and eco-sensitive buildings.

Baker's
architecture is undeniably unique, but also attractive. Our first taste
of his buildings was at the CDS campus, which was entirely designed by
Baker and his team of architects and engineers in the organization
COSTFORD.

Mithraniketan consists of a historic royal home and a next-door building reconstructed by COSTFORD.

Some photos of Mithraniketan:

The
Karimadom Colony is a slum in Trivandrum currently undergoing
redevelopment. The state government attempted smaller-scale
redevelopment in the early 1990's with limited success. The new COSTFORD
homes appear to be an improvement.

Our exploration of Kerala has been focused on the architecture of
Laurie Baker, founder of COSTFORD. Baker developed unique design
elements and construction techniques that minimize the financial cost
and environmental impact of buildings.

Baker's buildings are site-specific: they reflect topographical and climatic conditions in their location.

The
engineering and construction of Baker's buildings are also
eco-sensitive. Foundations, walls and roofs are often reinforced with
construction-grade bamboo instead of structural steel.

Roofs:
cement, which has a high financial and environmental cost to produce,
is only used for reinforcement, otherwise terra cotta slabs are used as
filler.

Walls: locally-sourced adobe bricks are arranged to maximize structural stability with less material:

Architectural
elements of his buildings are eco-sensitive in their material and
design. Baker employed materials with low embodied energy (energy used
to produce and dispose of), local materials and recycled materials:

His
buildings maximize energy conservation through site planning (for
example, using the south Indian science of vaste shastra, the "science
of building," which dictates good architectural design similar to
Chinese Feng Shui). Baker's buildings also use passive cooling,
alternate sources of energy and day lighting. Elements of water
conservation and waste recycling are also visible.

This museum should evoke the cachet of dance. T. NANDAKUMAR finds out how
its architecture will help to achieve that end.

The narrow road suddenly opens up to a massive gateway spanning
the entrance to the Guru Gopinath Natana Gramam at Vattiyurkavu.

The campus, spread over about one hectare of land, is situated in
the middle of a quiet suburban neighbourhood, away from the hustle and bustle
of the capital city. The State-government-sponsored institution is a centre for
learning, training, and research in various Indian dance forms, particularly
Kerala Natanam, the dance form composed by the late Guru Gopinath, a pioneer
reformer of Kathakali.

The sprawling grounds are bare, except for a couple of exposed
brick buildings and a framed concrete structure under construction. By next
year however, the campus will be home to the country's first dance museum.

The proposed National Dance Museum is conceived as a centre for
display, documentation, education, and research on the rich Indian dance
heritage. It has been designed to depict a comprehensive picture of the
evolution of dance in India and the diversity of forms, including folk, classical,
and contemporary styles. The museum is also expected to promote better
awareness of dance among schoolchildren.

The state-of-the-art museum complex has been designed to ensure
that the natural vegetation and serene neighbourhood are not disturbed, says
V.S. Pramod, secretary of the centre. The architecture reflects the distinctive
Kerala style with gables and tiled roof. The museum will feature a 22,000-sq.ft
display area in the form of 11 galleries.

Each 2,000-sq.ft gallery will showcase sculptures of dancing
figures in bronze, stone, terracotta, and wood, illuminated hanging displays,
murals, replicas of rock paintings, and engravings depicting dance. They will
feature descriptions of Indian folk and tribal dances, musical instruments,
costumes and jewellery, models, photographs, paintings, and video footage. The
galleries will be equipped with a multimedia touch-screen kiosk and plasma
display screens.

Apart from collection, preservation and documentation of objects,
the museum will have the role of a venue for education, research, and training.
On the anvil are a host of activities, including school-level programmes for
students and teachers, public lectures and film shows, an extension service
through a mobile museum, temporary exhibitions, publications, and training
sessions on dance.

Museologists, conservation experts, veteran dancers, and
choreographers from across the country participated in the World Dance Forum, a
content-emerging exercise organised by the centre in February to finalise the
contours of the project.

“We have had to start from scratch, as a dance museum is being
established for the first time in the country. The brainstorming session
provided us with a range of options on design, exhibition, preservation, and
allied activities,” Mr. Pramod says.

The Centre of Science and Technology for Rural Development
(COSTFORD) has been entrusted with the construction of the buildings for the
museum. P.B. Sajan, Director, COSTFORD, says the buildings has been designed
for maximum utilisation of natural light and ventilation. The entry and exit
are provided at the same point. “We have designed the galleries to ensure that
even without barricades, the visitors do not cross each other's path,” he says.

The complex will feature a sloping roof with filler slabs and
tiles above. The exteriors will sport a brick finish for an earthy look. The
grounds will accommodate a park with benches and seats, a garden, and a parking
lot for vehicles.

“The first phase of the project is almost over. We hope to
complete the work on the museum within a year,” Mr. Pramod says. The
Rs.8.24-crore project is funded by the Union Ministry of Cultural Affairs.

The campus currently accommodates an amphitheatre, an office
building, a Smrithi Mandapam (memorial to Guru Gopinath), an indoor hall for
dance performance, and a research library on Kerala Natanam.

Mr. Pramod says the museum will be equipped with a
state-of-the-art library with books, periodicals, videotapes, reprographic
facilities, and a collection of films on dance.

Another innovative element of the project is a gift shop stocked
with figurines, note cards, books, and artefacts on dance. The museum has plans
to collaborate with universities and other institutions on research projects.

The Mayor K.Chandrika inaugurating a seminar on waste disposal
organised by 'Shuchithva Mission' in Thiruvananthapuram on
tuesday................Photo:C.Ratheesh kumar.. . .

Says she is unable to take decision on waste-disposal crisis

The closure of the Vilappilsala solid-waste treatment plant is an
act of ‘democratic violation' on the part of the Vilappil panchayat, Mayor K.
Chandrika has said.

She was speaking after inaugurating a seminar on source-level
waste management organised by the Suchitwa Mission here on Tuesday.

Ms. Chandrika said the panchayat president had no right to shut
down a plant owned and operated by another local body. “The Vilappilsala plant
has been constructed using the city taxpayers' money. The Corporation has spent
around Rs.35 crore on the plant in the past 11 years. The plant was
unilaterally shut down by the panchayat at a time when work on the leachate
treatment plant and sanitary landfill inside the plant was progressing
rapidly,” Ms. Chandrika said.

The State government should not have allowed the Vilappil
panchayat to close the plant without making any alternative arrangement for
waste disposal in the city, she said. “There are around 50 people working round
the clock at the Vilappilsala solid-waste treatment plant, all of whom stay in
quarters provided by the Corporation inside the plant. They do not have any
health issues. I do not understand what health issues are faced by the people
of Vilappil that our workers inside the plant do not have,” Ms. Chandrika said.

She said that as a Mayor, she was unable to take any concrete
decision on dealing with the waste-disposal crisis as her hands were tied by
the State government and the bureaucracy. “When I tried to rope in Costford,
which is an accredited agency, to speed up the household-level ring compost
project, it was objected to by the Suchitwa Mission, which maintained that the
project implementing agency can be finalised only after following a tender
procedure. We all know how much time it takes to complete these procedures,”
Ms. Chandrika said.

The Hindu The present
dumping ground at the Vilapilsala Garbage Plant.The partially constructed
Unaerobic tank for the Leache Treatment Plant is also seen in the backgorund.
Photo: S. Gopakumar

Stress need for its uprade and proper management

If properly managed and operated, the Vilappilsala plant can be
upgraded as the best solid-waste treatment plant in the country, experts have
said.

Once the leachate treatment plant and sanitary landfill inside
the plant are commissioned, the Vilappilsala plant can become a model waste
treatment plant, they have said..

“The windrow composting technology used in the Vilappilsala plant
is undoubtedly the best available technology for processing biodegradable
waste. It is an internationally accepted organic-waste-processing technology,
which is also mooted by the Union Ministry of Environment,” Babu Ambat,
executive director of the Centre for Environment and Development (CED), said. CED, an agency providing technical support to waste treatment
plants in various States, has been operating the plant for the Thiruvananthapuram
city Corporation for the past four years.

Mr. Ambat said the plant at Vilappilsala, designed and
constructed by the Poabson Group, was one of the best in the State. “There have
been issues of space in the processing plant as it was not enough to properly
process the 250 tonnes of waste that was brought to the plant daily. This was
also the reason for the odour problem there (because of lack of aeration
facility). But now, the area of the processing plant is being doubled to two
lakh sq.ft,” he said.

Social activist and rural technology exponent R.V.G. Menon said
that unlike high-technology solutions such as pyrolisis and incineration,
composting, as done in Vilappilsala, was best suited for treatment of
biodegradable waste in the State.

“The biodegradable waste generated in our climatic condition has
about 70 per cent moisture. But for technologies such as pyrolisis and
incineration, dry waste is best suited as it has high energy content. Experts
all over the world say that the best technology for organic waste with high
moisture content is composting or biogas,” Mr. Menon said.

‘Proper aeration'

He, however, said the composting facility at Vilappilsala could
be upgraded by facilitating proper aeration. In the case of plastic waste, the
Corporation could think of transporting plastic to recycling units outside the
State after converting them into pellets using plastic shredders.

“Segregating plastic and organic waste is pertinent. Although
plastic shredders can be installed at Vilappilsala, it should be ensured that
it is properly segregated and does not get into the composting facility,” he
said.

While the experts concede that decentralised waste treatment
facilities in different parts of the city are required to bring down the volume
of waste transported to Vilappilsala, a centralised treatment plant is also
inevitable for a city such as Thiruvananthapuram.

Social and environmental activist B.R.P. Bhaskar said that while
the conventional method of taking the entire municipal waste for processing to
far-off villages was not feasible in the State because of its sheer density of
population, source-level processing was also only a partial solution.

“Not all waste generated in a household can be treated there.
That is why we require an integrated method of decentralised and centralised
facility. The Vilappilsala plant can be reopened as a centralised plant, but
only after the authorities convince the people there and assure them that the
plant will henceforth be properly managed without endangering their health or
environment,” he said.

Mr. Menon said that as long as the issues at the Vilappilsala
plant remained unresolved, there would be public opposition to setting up
plants elsewhere.

“The Vilappilsala plant can no more be treated as a dump of the
city. The volume of waste taken to the plant has to be brought down
significantly,” said Costford director P.B. Sajan.

Mr. Sajan put forth a novel idea to ensure efficient management
of the plant. “Why not involve the Vilappil panchayat in the plant operation.
This way, they can ensure that the plant is properly managed and also make it
an income generating initiative by selling the manure produced there. The
Corporation should, of course, pay the operational expenses,” he said.